The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1887-01-22

traI2ple upon the rights or feelings of some
one; and re seemed to derive a savage
pleasure in exciting rage or grief in the
hearts of others. HIS station and wealth
enabled him to ride rough-shod over his
poorer and weaker neighbors, and more
than one vow Of vengeance was made
against this INSCRIPTIONS despot by those
who could not cope with him openly.
In the early part of the contest between
England and France known as Queen
Anne's War, In which the colonies became
| involved, John Trevor held Captains
| commission in the colonial troops; and,
although he was regarded as being by no
means deficient in courage and ability, yet
his overbearing course toward his fellow
| officers, and his tyrannical treatment of his
men, rendered him so obnoxious to all, that
he was privately advised by the commander
| of the expedition-they were then on the
march to Port Royal-to resign and return
home. His subsequent action on this ad-
vice, it was said, was determined and ac-
celebrated in no small measure by the fact
that in a skirmish with the Indian allies of
| the French, he had bullet fired through
his hat-a circumstance only significant in
| that the ball had never been inside of an
| Indian rifle
His narrow escape from assassination
| seems to have had no modifying effects
| upon his bearing after his return home ;
but he became harsher in his manners
and more despotic in his acts than
ever before. About three years after
| this episode in his career, he mar
| ried; and, if we may trust the ac-
| counts of tradition, Mistress Trevor GER
| tainly merited far different mate than
him whom the fates had bestowed upon her
or, it may be, had forced upon her. She ap-
pears to have been woman of unusual
loneliness of both person and character;
and, if John Trevor was the man of her
choice, it is mystery what the attraction
could have been to have so influenced her,
But there seems some reason to believe
that she had very little to say in the mat
ter; but, like the dutifuId ghteisfo f those
days, who WerA Nv mbued with
the virtue of obedience;>SS sNsssSs d simply car
ried out the arrangements =. Il he father
and her future husband. The sT2tch, i'll
his eyes, was advantageous; for the IRE
vors were wealthy, as were the ideas of
that age, while the Waylands were poor as
arc the ideas of any age. Rose Wayland,
however, was not only a lovely young lady,
but she was a thorough adept in all that
pertained to domestic economy as under
stood and practiced two centuries ago; so
while she could bring no money to her hus-
band, she brought moneys worth in her
ability to manage the affairs of his house
hold to the best advantage. She was
faithful wife, and Trevor appears to have
treated her with as much consideration as
he was capable, and to have been sometimes
influenced by her wishes and counsel.
1t was not long after this marriage that
the foundations for the Trevor house were
laid and, in due time, the edifce was fin
ished and taken possession of by its owner.
In consideration of the prevailing customs
of the times. the most remarkable circum-
stance attending the first occupancy of the
new house was the entire absence of any
thing like the "house-w warming festivities
usual on such occasions among both rich
and poor. This studied affront to the public
for such it was in effect-was in perfect
keeping with the mans whole character;
but the prophetic spirits of the neighbor-
hood were not slow in foreboding and pre-
dieting the bad luck'' awaiting the new
house in consequence of this neglect. How
ever these prophecies did not have an i'm
mediate fultillment, and matters went on
with John Trevor very much as they might
have done had he opened his house with the
customary auguries, until, eight or nine
years later, the house did experience its
first great stroke of evil fortune in the loss
of its mistress, who died, leaving three
young children to the care of others.
His bereavement seemed to tear away all
the restraints imposed upon him by the infu-
ences of his wife and even to stimulate all the
evil of his naturally turbulent disposition;
and John Trevor soon came to be regarded by
the whole community as a man to be avoid
ed. And to make matters infinitely worse,
he became addicted to the excessive use of
Intoxicating liquors, and not a day passed,
sometimes for weeks at a time, that he was
not seen in a state of helpless drunkenness.
More than once he had been brought home
bleeding and insensible from the effects of
violence at the hands of ruf1ianly compan-
ions in some drunken quarrel; or perhaps.
of some sturdy yeoman whose veneration
for the blue blood of the Trevors was not
strong enough to bcarup under the insults
and abuse of one i'll whose veins it flowed.
Far to the west of the Connecticut river,
among the hills, clothed by the almost i'm
penetrable thickets Of the unbr 2d1n, prime
val forest, still lurked wreGch2d remnant
of the once powerful tribe OF the Narragan-
sets, so nearly crushed out of existence in
the terrible King Philips War of forty years
before. Occasionally a few of these Indians,
singly or in small parties, would stray back
to the regions, once the happy hunting
grounds and dwelling places oftheir fathers;
but they could count on only scant wei
come from the white nheritors of their
ancient homes The memories of King
Philip, and the fearful atrocities of his fol
lowers, with the equally fearful retaliation,
were still fresh in the minds of the survi-
vors of these dreadful events; and such was
the horror inspired in the hearts of the
rising generation by the tales of sires and
grandsires, that these wandering children
of the forest were everywhere regarded
with fear and aversion that led ofttimes to
acts on the part of the whites unreasonable
and unjust in the highest degree. What it
was that brought these wanderers back to
the ancient seats of their tribe, it is difficult
to surmise. Possibly the traditions of the
former power and greatness of their nation
were carefully preserved, and these untu-
tored savages, obeying an impulse of human
nature, had come to look upon what had
once been the scene of their national
greatness; possibly, through filial or
religious veneration, they had returned to
visit the graves of their ancestors, which,
to their minds, were not mere places of
burial, but really gateways passed through
by their forefathers to the 'happy hInting-
grounds" beyond.
But whatever their errand might be, it